Notes on plagiarism:A. According to the Arab Open University By-laws, “the following acts represent cases of cheating and plagiarism: Verbatim copying of printed material and submitting them as part of TMAs without proper academic acknowledgement and documentation. Verbatim copying of material from the Internet, including tables and graphics. Copying other students’ notes or reports. Using paid or unpaid material prepared for the student by individuals or firms.B. Penalties for plagiarism ranges from failure in the TMA to expulsion from the university.

Declaration: I hereby declare that the submitted TMA is my own work and I have not copied any other person’s work or plagiarized in any other form as specified above.Student Signature:

TMA feedback: (PT3)

EA300B: Children’s Literature (II)TMA: Semester 2, 2014 - 2015

TMA: 20 pointsCut-off date: week 11April 25th, 2015Length: 2000 words

Explain and discuss the portrayal of mothers and motherhood in a literary work discussed in EA300 module material.

Student Notes:

These notes suggest some possible approaches you might want to take in response to the TMA question, and are intended to help you get started. They are not designed to be used as an essay plan, and you may well want to take a different approach.This assignment provides you with a chance to think about the depiction of mothers and motherhood in literary works you studied in the course. You can focus on a particular work, or you can compare two literary works to support your thesis. The topic allows you to explore the representation of motherhood in different periods of the twentieth century. Mothers are central figures in many of the works you studied: Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, Tom’s Midnight Garden, Peter Rabbit, Voices in the Park as well as works and poems from the previous semester such as Northern Lights, Little Women, Treasure Island, Peter Pan, and many poems. Poems you may find especially interesting in this regard may include ‘Matilda’, ‘The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb’, ‘Wha me Mudder Do’, ‘Aunts and Uncles’. You may find it rewarding to take an elastic view of the maternal and stretch it, for example, to aunts and grandmothers who may have taken a maternal role in the literary work under consideration. Some fairytales can offer you an indispensible resource in this regard. In the course of your essay, you are expected to engage with the critical materials provided for the module, explaining where you are adopting critics’ views, and where you are refining them or challenging them. You are likely to find it helpful to contrast critical viewpoints, as well as to experiment with how far they can be aligned. When it comes to planning your essay, you may find it helpful to set up an outline structure of points you wish to make, and then choose two or three scenes from the work(s) you are dealing with to write about in detail to flesh out your points. In this type of essay, it is essential to make detailed reference to the literary texts, as well as to the critical literature.

Students may find the critical works in their Reader: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends about individual literary works helpful for writing their TMAs. But we advise you to do more research to write a substantial essay.

A thesis statement and a proper logical presentation of ideas are necessary.To do this TMA, you will need to do the following steps:

1. Plan your essay ahead of time by writing a plan highlighting the main points you intend to cover.2. Write a thesis statement stating your argument to be included in the first page of your essay.3. Refer to the works discussed and select some excerpts that relate to your argument. State what these passages say and add your own comments and interpretation.4. Make sure your essay makes reference to some quotations from the novel. 5. Your analytical comments should follow every time you quote from the text under discussion or the critical material you refer to. 6. Reference to critical material related to this topic is a must. (You should refer to at least 3 critical works).7. You should refer and quote from the course’s audiovisual material whenever possible. The audiovisual material should be well integrated in your essay. 8. At this stage, you are expected to know how to paraphrase and synthesize the material you read, using your own words as much as possible. You still have to quote and use quotation marks in the right annotation methods you learned from your tutors. 9. Make sure you ask your tutors in class and during their office hours for further clarifications.

Using the e-library on campus: Students are requested to visit the e-library on campus and use it to do their TMAs properly. They are also requested to show their tutor that they used the e-library in doing the TMA by referring to some articles they have read. Students who fail to use and refer to material from the e-library will subsequently lose some marks.

The following are guidelines on plagiarism:If you submit an assignment that contains work other than yours without acknowledging your sources, you are committing plagiarism. This might occur when:

• Using a sentence or phrase that you have come across• Copying word-for-word directly from a text• Paraphrasing the words from the text very closely• Using text downloaded from the Internet• Borrowing statistics or assembled facts from another person or source• Copying or downloading figures, photographs, pictures or diagrams without acknowledging your sources• Copying from the notes or essays of a fellow student

(Slightly adapted from OU document on quoting versus plagiarism)

It is important to remember that plagiarism is strictly barred and would be subject to punitive action by the Arab Open University.

Marking Descriptor

GRADE CONTENT LANGUAGE & ORGANIZATIONAExcellent answers showing confident and wide-ranging knowledge of core material, good understanding of any relevant theory, and a capacity to address the question in a structural, direct and effective way, thoughtfully and with insight. Originality of thought or ideas from outside the course is an added asset. Examples are to the point. - Has an introduction defining plan of essay.- Body divided into several paragraphs- Conclusion which directly relates arguments to topic.- Evidence that essay has been edited.- Error-free grammar & register.- Wide range of specialized terminology.B to B+Very good answers showing secure knowledge of course materials. Adopting an analytical approach and providing relevant discussion covering most of the key issues. Distinguished from A answers by being less insightful or by showing less comprehensive knowledge of the course. - First four criteria above maintained- Demonstrates extensive grammar control.- Terminology specialized but less varied.C to C+Competent answers reflecting adequate knowledge of the more directly relevant course material and concepts, with reasonable structure and adequate coherence related to the question set. - Introduction and/or conclusion short but still satisfactory. - Evidence of editing.- Less grammar control than above.- Good range of specialized terminology.D

Answers which omit some concepts /evidence and/or lack coherence /structure, and/or make minor errors while still demonstrating basic understanding. Or Bare pass answers which show awareness of some relevant material and attempt to relate it to the question. - Introduction and/or conclusion short but acceptable. - no evidence of editing.- Few grammatical errors that impede communication.- Above average range of specialized terminology.- Slightly confused introduction and/or conclusion, but body still fair.- No evidence of editing.- Some error types that impede communication.- Fair range of specialized terminology.FBare fail answers which attempt to draw upon relevant material but do not reflect sufficient knowledge of the course and/or neglect the focus required by the question, and/or are incomplete in some important aspects whilst being acceptable in others. - No introduction and /or no conclusion.- Body badly organized or irrelevant.- Poor grammar control (extremely limited range of grammar & register).- Limited or not specialized range of terminology.

Mark-Deduction Descriptor The following grid is used in deducting marks, when grading TMAs, MTAs, and FEs, on the basis of language use and organisation

TMA: 1.5MTA: 2- Introduction and/or conclusion short but still satisfactory. - Some evidence of editing.- Less grammar control than above: (e.g., wrong use of prepositions, verb tenses).- Some non-recurrent problems in mechanics of writing - Average range of specialized terminology. - Deduct 50% of deduction allowed